August 2008 Archives
It's a Thursday here at the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown Minneapolis. Thursday means vegetables — just a block away from us to the north is the Nicollet Mall Farmer's Market 
, held on this day every week during the summer.
It's fitting that our visitors on Thursdays are often on their way to or from the Farmer's Market: Wells Fargo has a long history of being part of agricultural businesses here in Minnesota.
When Wells Fargo came to Minnesota, it was on the Great Northern Railroad, and then on the Chicago Great Western Railroad. Our agents handled shipments of both crops and livestock. We worked with small farm families and the huge mills along the Mississippi River. Wells Fargo express cars carried packages to and from the University of Minnesota's School of Agriculture , which opened in 1888 . There is a long list of farm produce and equipment that Wells Fargo shipped to and from Minnesota, but my favorite item is a photo from MNHS of a shipment of beer from different breweries, including August Schell's brewery in New Ulm, Minn.
Today, Wells Fargo supports farmers in the Midwest and throughout the US with Agricultural Business Banking, as well as Agri-Business Insurance. Our ties to the farming community remain as strong now as they were in the 1800's, and you could say that those ties have borne a lot of fruit.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy some pure Minnesota-made maple syrup.
Those of you who read my last post know that I've been planning for a 24-day RV trip to retrace the Butterfield Overland Mail Route , which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
Texas and California in particular have really stepped up with planned events. Most of my preparations for the trip are complete, with just some minor details to be worked out. The route will take me from St. Louis, Missouri on September 16th through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally to San Francisco, California on October 10th. I'm hoping to see many exciting places and meet interesting people along the way!
Planning an adventure of this magnitude with an historical foundation is a monumental task that most would never contemplate. However, I would like to share something I've learned during the process: most states really want you to visit.
That may sound like an obvious statement, but they will actually help you plan your trip to their states and send you valuable information...for free!
Not only will states do this, but in some cases cities and towns will do the same. So if you're thinking of visiting Missouri check this site , Arkansas check this out , Oklahoma here , Texas (kudos particularly to Texas) click here , New Mexico here , Arizona here , and for California start here . They will send you information on everything from events to parks to campgrounds and maps.
I hope you will all follow me on my adventure beginning September 16th. And maybe you'll be inspired to start planning your own.
Happy traveling!
Last winter, I did a couple of blog posts about watches that were presented to employees by Wells Fargo for acts of bravery and protecting express shipments. Then a few weeks ago, a package for me arrived at Wells Fargo's Old Sacramento museum. (I never get mail at the museum!)
The contents were very interesting.
The surprise package was from a gentleman named Thomas A. Wright, who was a Wells Fargo team member for 29 years, mostly in San Francisco. Mr. Wright may have the last watch that Wells Fargo presented. Mr. Wright's letter was very descriptive — it included photographs and newspaper articles that explained how he received this prestigious award.
On March 5, 1963, Thomas Wright was seven years into his employment with Wells Fargo. He was Assistant Cashier at the New Montgomery and Mission Streets location, the San Francisco Examiner reported, when a bandit walked in to the bank, walked over to a teller and handed her a stick up note. Wright noticed the teller's horrified look: "I knew something was wrong and ran towards her." At the same moment Wright jumped up, the robber ran for the door. He had stolen 515 dollars in cash and was trying to get away.
The robber had two accomplices. His "look out man" ran with him down the street, and a driver was waiting in a beat up '46 Plymouth down the street. Wright sprinted after the two men and tackled the hold-up man. Wells Fargo's Chief Clerk, Bill Thompson, tackled the other man. The police arrived and arrested the three robbers, who were found to be intoxicated.
For his bravery, Wright was awarded the last presentation watch Wells Fargo has issued to date. In his letter, Mr. Wright expressed that he wished it were a pocket watch like those given in the 19th century. Regardless, the watch is beautiful, made of gold. The engraving on the back reads:
To Thomas A. Wright, in recognition of his courageous conduct March 5th 1963 — Wells Fargo Bank
Thanks for bringing us this memory, Mr.Wright! And thanks again for your courage that day. Wells Fargo never forgets.
We have a story in the Wells Fargo Messenger, June 1918, about Wells Fargo handling the first shipment of Harley-Davidson motorcycles by express. At the time, Harley Davidson sent a photo to Wells Fargo and Co.'s Express, showing a railroad car backed up to the plant in Milwaukee with a load of motorcycles aboard.
So far, no one can locate the photo. But we Historians won't rest till we do!
Another example of exceptional Wells Fargo motorcycle service happened on New Years Eve, 1916. A package came into Wells Fargo's office in Oklahoma City for shipment to Purcell , 40 miles away. It contained a new dress suit, destined for a bridegroom who would say his "I do's" that very evening at 6:00. Agents at the depot placed the package on the stack to be loaded on the last Santa Fe Railway train to Purcell that day. But after the No. 17 left the station, it was discovered that the package had been left behind!
General agent C.B. Kinne remembered that wagon driver M.H. Childers had a motorcycle and tracked him down. Childers was instructed to personally carry the bridegroom's suit to Purcell. It was one of the coldest days of the year, but Childers set off on his mission, "slowing down to forty-five miles an hour" when he went through Norman.
The wedding was still on, thanks to motorcyclist M.H. Childers, who made it to Purcell with time to spare, at 4:45pm! I hope the couple lived happily ever after because it's such a cool story. Whoever the groom was that day, the best man was actually from Wells Fargo — someone who really came through for the couple.
Great moments sometimes just happen on their owns, and I like to think Childers had a good time taking that package on his bike. Even if it was too cold, he got the chance to let 'er rip.
I wonder if he rode a hog...
On Friday afternoon, August 15, Greg will sign copies of his book at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco. We're very proud of his achievement, and we invite everyone to come and pat him on the back. Of course, you should insist he spell your name right! (CR)
I have not written for the Guided by History blog very often this year for a number of reasons. Much of my time has been allotted to a book I have been working on for a year. This book, my first publication, was released by Arcadia Publishing on June 2nd.
The title is A History of Alcatraz Island: 1853-2008 and it is part of Arcadia's "Images of America" series. This is the same series for which Bob Chandler wrote the volume about Wells Fargo .
Having finished the book, I wanted to find a historical connection between Wells Fargo and Alcatraz Island for GBH. Well, an opportunity actually presented itself on my birthday this year! As I put up a "This Day in Wells Fargo History" flyer in the Old Sacramento museum, I found out that Wells Fargo shipped soldiers from Alcatraz to Nevada in 1860.
Some may not know that Alcatraz was originally designed as a fort to help defend the San Francisco Bay. Military construction on Alcatraz began in 1853, and the islandremained under military control until 1933. As a fort, Alcatraz had artillery and soldiers — on May 15, 1860, Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express shipped a "company of artillery from Fort Alcatraz" to Placerville, and then to Nevada. These soldiers and artillery reinforced volunteer troops fighting in Nevada near Pyramid Lake .
The soldiers were sent over the Sierra Nevada, via Placerville, by Wells Fargo agent Theodore Tracy. Theodore is a brother of Wells Fargo's famed Sacramento agent Felix Tracy, whom I wrote about a while ago.
There is little else about the shipment that is interesting, but it allowed me to find the Wells Fargo connection. And if nothing else, someone working at Wells Fargo has something to do with Alcatraz, yesterday and today!
On Friday, August 15, Historian Greg Wellman will appear at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco. From 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Greg will sign copies of his new book, A History of Alcatraz Island: 1853-2008.
With over 200 vintage photographs from both public and private collections, Greg's book documents the story of one of America's best-known landmarks. Alcatraz is one of the oldest lighthouses on the West Coast, it was a Civil War fort and, of course, one of the most (in)famous prisons in US history.
The island is also an interesting naturalist study and is a major tourist attraction. In A History of Alcatraz Island, Greg gives us the whole story of the island as it transformed from the boom years after the gold rush till today.
Alcatraz is one of the most beautiful places in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as one of the loneliest. The views of the City, the Golden Gate Bridge and the entire Bay are stunning, and exactly what punished prisoners there the most — more, possibly, than their sentence. They were so close to the good life....
We locals may be much too cool for tourist attractions, but we all have done the Alcatraz tour and admit without embarrassment: Alcatraz is cool.
The Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco is at 420 Montgomery Street . If you'd like more information about Greg's appearance, please call the Museum at (415) 396-2619.
Come meet Greg and have him sign a book for you. Oh, and bring your favorite story about a watch!
A couple months ago, Charles wrote about the Ada Hancock explosion, and how the actual incident has become a silly treasure hunting tale. I followed up with a post about one of the actual consequences, if you will, of the Ada Hancock accident. Neve mind fake treasure: an historian finds wealth in boring stuff like changes in laws.
To recap, the Ada Hancock was a 42-ton steam tug in Los Angeles harbor. On April 27, 1863, the boat exploded in transit, killing or injuring 46 people. Both Wells Fargo's agent and messenger lost their lives.
George F. Hooper was aboard as well, and a large part of the treasure that was lost in the explosion was his. Hooper was a Fort Yuma, California merchant and a good customer of Wells Fargo. (He was also future member of the Wells Fargo family, founding the First National Gold Bank of San Francisco, which eventually joined Wells Fargo in 1986 after a history of various mergers.) As I wrote earlier, he sued Wells Fargo for the loss of about $11,000 worth of gold that approached 40 pounds in weight.
In court papers, Hooper’s attorney Hall McAllister detailed just how special Wells Fargo’s service was. (McAllister used the technical term “bailee,” from the verb “to bail.” A Bailee takes charge of goods for a special purpose and returns them when he completes the task.) Express companies, McAllister wrote,
are paid, not in order to commit to others for transportation the thing being bailed to themselves, but that they may carry and deliver it. They receive a higher freight than ordinary bailees, because they profess to exercise a closer custody of, a more special supervision over the goods entrusted to them than does the ordinary carrier. (my emphasis.)
Furthermore,
the packages bailed to them are generally of small bulk, but of great value; they remain during the entire transportation in the personal charge of the express messenger, and their delivery is made, not at the wharf or warehouse, as in the case of ordinary goods, but specially by the express employee at the office or residence of the consignee.
McAllister pointed out Wells Fargo's outstanding personal service, even as he was using it for the purposes suing us! The California Supreme Court accepted the argument and the Company had to make good on the loss.
Interestingly, the reasoning behind the Court's decision that cost the Company $11,000 is the very integrity that made Wells Fargo's reputation! Because the Company took such personal care of its business, any shipment was our absolute responsibility. Wells Fargo accepted that responsibility because anything less, even in the face of losses, was sub-standard.
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